What Goes On Inside a Dishwashing Machine? Also, Anyone Fancy a Glass-Fronted One?

A dishwashing machine is a luxury this blogger can't afford, but I've used these miracle machines at friends' houses. They are amazing and I've always wondered exactly what was going on inside after you close that door and hit "Start."

Well, thanks to GoPro and YouTube, now there's video:

YouTube user Bito wasn't the first to stick a GoPro inside a dishwasher, but he was the first to do it while lighting the interior properly for visual clarity. My first thought was, holy cow, how much water does this thing use? Washing dishes by hand has to consume less water, no?Perhaps, perhaps not. If that's an Energy Star dishwasher we're seeing, it probably uses less water than handwashing; as of 2009 they were required to use 5.8 gallons of water or less per cycle. Energy Star's website claims that "...washing dishes by hand uses much more water than using a dishwashers. Using an ENERGY STAR qualified dishwasher instead of hand washing will save you annually 5,000 gallons of water, $40 in utility costs, and 230 hours of your time."

Meanwhile, Treehugger cites a study in Germany that concluded "the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap, to boot." However, machines made in the '90s and earlier reportedly use a staggering 15-20 gallons per cycle.

By the bye, another set of guys who stuck a GoPro inside a dishwasher were the gents from Mythbusters, accompanied by celebrity chef Alton Brown. Their "study" had nothing to do with water conservation; instead they wanted to see if it is in fact possible to cook a lasagna inside a dishwashing machine:

The GoPro they used turned out to be unnecessary, as they crafted that glass door for the front. Which begs the question: Would you buy a dishwasher with a glass front door, so you could see what was going on in there? Or would you grow bored of it and resent having to wipe the door down to keep it clean?

2 Comments

I suspect modern, EnergyStar dishwashers do save water and energy, but I would think in real-world conditions the savings are somewhat smaller - most people at least rinse and scrape before putting their dishes in, for example.

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